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BURNING OF HINDU WIDOWS.
305
speaks of a race of Thracians, whose women sacrificed themselves on the tombs of their husbands: these people, as well as the Getæ by whom this custom was also observed, were perhaps some tribe of degraded Kshatriyas.
You may, if you think it worth while, read this paper at the next meeting of the Royal Asiatic Society.
I remain, My dear Dr. Wilson,
Yours sincerely,
RADHAKANT DEB. CALCUTTA, 30th June, 1358.
Observations. In disproving the genuineness of the citation of the passage which had been quoted as authority for the Satí, I confined my objections to the particular passage in question, and in this respect the Rájá is obliged to admit, that I may be justified in coming to the conclusion, that the genuine reading rather discountenances than enjoins Satí. This was all I maintained. Of course I never intended to deny, that there were numerous texts in the Sútras and law - books, by which it was enjoined. I restricted my argument to the individual text quoted from the Rigveda, and with Rájá Rádhákánt Deb's own concurrence, I have no occasion to modify the view I have taken, as limited to this object: the text of the Rigveda, that has been
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